The country’s elite Category One Academy U21 sides will see radical changes this coming season that will combine the two existing divisions into a new Premier League 2 with 26 clubs.
The changes will bring back end-of-season playoffs, this time involving the Top 16 sides. Promotion and relegation between the two divisions are eliminated, along with the traditional binary structure of teams playing each other home and away.
In the new system, all 26 clubs with Category One academies they will initially be placed into five pots which will be determined by their performances in Premier League 2 over the past three seasons, with fixtures decided by a draw from those pots.
Teams will only be able to play another team from their pot once, either home or away, and also three to five teams from all the other pots either home or away.
That will add up to 20 regular season games for each club, after which the PL2 table will rank the clubs from 1-26, with the Top 16 qualifying for a single-match elimination playoff. These playoffs will be determined by the league positions, with first facing 16th, second facing 15th, and so on, with the higher-ranked club playing at home.
Explaining the reasons for the new system, the Premier League said: “The change came about after an extensive review of PDP competitions, which sought to enhance the transition of talented Academy players into senior football, and engaged various stakeholders, including football directors, Academy managers, first-team coaches and Academy players.
“The removal of relegation introduces positive jeopardy; it supports clubs making development-first decisions, and minimises the impact of relegation on future groups of U21 players.
“Also the experience of playoffs will open up to 16 teams rather than the four in Division 2 of previous seasons.
“The new format will also give teams a greater breadth of fixtures, playing 20 different opponents, compared with only 13 in Division 1 and only 10 in Division 2.
“The single division format also provides greater flexibility to add or decrease the number of fixtures in future seasons, dependent on the number of teams in the league, as well as access to additional development opportunities, including matches against senior teams and international opposition.”